1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for cutting down or reducing the length of a finished slide fastener.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the manufacture of slide fasteners, it sometimes becomes necessary to cut down or reduce the length of the finished slide fasteners in view of the size of articles to which the slide fasteners are to be attached. In such instance, new top end stops are applied to two opposed stringers of a finished slide fastener in view of the length of a desired slide fastener. Then the slide fastener stringers are severed with a group of successing coupling elements left between each of the new top end stops and a line of severance. Thereafter, the remaining coupling elements are removed from the stringers, thereby producing a slide fastener of a reduced length. The foregoing cutting down process is performed manually and hence inefficient.
In view of the foregoing difficulties, it has been a strong desire to devise an automatized slide-fastener cutting down apparatus.
Such automatized apparatus is to be so constructed as to perform the following processing steps one after another: (a) Applying new top end stops to two opposed, partly separated stringers of a finished slide fastener to be processed, at a first position determined in view of the length of a desired slide fastener; (b) Severing two stringer tapes at a second position spaced forwardly (upstream) from the first position; and (c) Removing coupling elements disposed between the first and second positions. When the coupling-element removing step is carried out before the top end-stop applying step, a problem arises in that the slide fastener stringers must be replaced from an element severing unit to an end stop applying unit, lowering the efficiency of the cut-down apparatus as a whole. It is therefore preferable that the top end stop applying unit is disposed rearwardly (downstream) of the element severing unit so as to attach the top end stops concurrently with the removal of the coupling elements. Such arrangement is still unsatisfactory because one or more coupling elements located adjacent to the top end stops are sometimes left half-cut and drawn toward the opposite stringer when the relative position between the top end stops and such endmost coupling elements is changed. These half-cut, projecting coupling elements have sharp cut ends which are likely to damage other structural component parts of the slide fastener or the operator.